E3 Expo 2009

My brother is watching it on G4 and I'm fascinated (and a bit freaked out) at all the technological gaming advances they've come up with and introduced at the expo so far...

Lionhead Details Xbox 360's Virtual Child Milo

Showcasing the capabilities of the new Xbox 360 Project Natal camera controller, which includes voice and motion-recognition capabilities, Fable 2 developer Lionhead Studios showed a video demonstrating a virtual child called Milo.
Able to recognize facial expressions and vocal emotions, Milo chatted with real-life demonstrator Claire in a prepared video. Milo also threw her a pair of googles (which she automatically grabbed for and then "put on"). Later, Milo grabbed a piece of paper that Claire held in front of the camera for a mere instant.

Another aspect saw Claire splashing around virtual water in real-time.

Studio founder Peter Molyneux boasted that these were concepts that even science fiction writers haven't been able to dream up, and that the technology is here, now.

Shown in a video demonstration at Microsoft's Keynote was an incredibly realistic boy who came up to the screen and talked with the player, using Microsoft's newly announced voice activated motion camera.

Players can interact with the boy, both through speech and through motion. It's like your very own boy in the room with you. He can even recognise your emotions in your voice...and in your facial expressions.

The player also used the motion camera to interact with water on screen, which actually featured her reflection.

It was all increidbly impressive, but whether it'll be fun is another matter. The graphics might remind you of Heavy Rain.

The bar both graphically and in motion control interaction appears to be have been challenged by both Microsoft and Lionhead at this year's E3 Expo.

That marks the end of Microsoft's E3 Press Conference and our coverage. We hope you had fun and when we know more, we'll bring it to you.